Near Misses
by amongblueskies
Summary: "What To Do And What Not To Do" was the title of the paper Jasmine had given Logan. It was about tips to get a girl and how to win her heart; but why had all of the experiences happened with the two of them? Jasmine/Logan, implied Jenna/Logan


**For those who read my stories: I WILL GET TO THEM I PROMISE. I'm currently finishing up the notes for Doing the Implausible (which will be _so_ drama-packed) and I'm currently changing some big things in Down to Business, now renamed Mishaps. You guys are all in for a treat ;) **

**I _had_ to write this story as filler and also because the idea had been on my mind of the longest time. Sorry for any mistakes, I didn't go back and correct/revise... Please enjoy :)**

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><p>To state the obvious: Logan's room was a dump. Normally, he tolerated the trash, sometimes enjoyed the state of his room. He was okay with the pile of dirty laundry pressed into the corner of his room, and frankly, the leaning stack of video game disks needed to be where they already were - balancing on top of the TV. What was the point of being neat when you could be convenient?<p>

Today was different. Today, Jenna was coming over, and Logan needed to impress her. There was only an hour left before she rang the doorbell downstairs. His room would have to be shining when she walked in. He had it all planned out - he would be reading a magazine, all suave, and when she walked in the room he'd say, "Oh, hey, Jenna," in a way where he would come off as a cool guy with a spiffy-clean room.

"I need to clean my room," he said out loud. It felt weird to say that - it was such a Lindy sort of thing to do.

He started with his desk first. It was the cleanest thing in his room, but that wasn't saying much. There were papers stacked messily, and a couple random books and knick-knacks scattered around the perimeter. A couple Coke cans littered the floor around it, and crumbs tumbled in the carpet. Knowing he was going to work hard, Logan sighed, already regretting asking Jenna to come over.

After around eight minutes of poking around and organizing what he could, he came across a sheet of paper that oddly peaked his memory. It was a pink lined paper, and was carefully creased so that the edges were touching perfectly. It certainly didn't look anything he owned.

He frowned. Where had he seen this?

He unfolded the paper gingerly. Inside, neat, loopy calligraphy lined the page. It was in a list format, and the title read, _What To Do And What Not To Do_. Underneath it, _Jasmine Kang_ was scrawled in small letters.

_Oh yeah! _He face-palmed himself and stared at the paper. He remembered this; Jasmine had given him a sheet with what to do and what not to do. She'd passed it to him in Chemistry, with a half-smirk on her face.

He'd need this for when Jenna came over. He mentally reminded himself to thank Jasmine the next time he saw her. Eagerly, he started reading the sheet of paper. There was a note:

_Just do what it says. Follow the list, and you should do fine. Unless you screw that up too. Good luck :)_

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><p><em>Step 1: DO put your arm around her or hold hands with her. She'll think you're caring. And stuff.<em>

"You're so cheesy," Jasmine laughed, glancing up at him. It was a Friday, and since Logan wanted something for Mike and Jenna to think about over the weekend, he'd asked Jasmine out on a date in front of the entire cafeteria. Jasmine went along with it pretty well, giggling breathlessly when he'd hugged her. He'd made a big show of smiling at her and then quickly glancing away to see if Jenna was watching. To Logan's excitement, she _was_ looking at them, expression almost a little jealous.

"I just wanted for them to remember our spectacle," he said, shrugging nonchalantly. Lately, Jasmine and Logan's charades had been working nicely, coaxing out some frustrated faces from Mike and some interested glances from Jenna.

"Well, it sure worked," Jasmine scoffed. "Did you see Jenna's face? Priceless!"

"And Mike looked like he was gonna blow," Logan grinned.

Suddenly, he spotted Mike across the hall, looking at the two of them. Logan nudged Jasmine and whispered, "Your man seems to be watching us pretty intensely."

Jasmine looked down at the hall, and when she sighted the target, she waggled her fingers at him. "Hey, put your arm around me or something," she said quickly.

"You sure?" Logan said nervously. It was sort of new territory, aside from a couple hugs and all that.

"Duh," Jasmine said back. "Hurry up, you goober."

And so Logan put his arm around Jasmine. It felt really nice, actually. Jasmine was short enough so that the position was comfortable and didn't require strength. This movement pulled the two of them close together, so he could feel the curves of her body. Logan could also sense a soft fragrance from her lotion.

Presumably for the act, Jasmine yawned and leaned her head against the crook of his shoulder. She looked up at him, and it was both exhilarating and strange seeing Jasmine from this angle. He grinned at her, and she remarked, quietly, "I think this is working."

Judging from the way Mike slammed the door to his locker, it was definitely working. It was fun to rile up Mike with her, and Logan wondered why he had doubts about her plan in the first place.

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><p><em>Step 2: DO have a couple of PDA moments. A kiss on the cheek or something. Just so she knows that you care.<em>

_Step 3: DO bring you girl flowers and gifts. It's common knowledge that girls like gifts. Get her a something and you won't come off as a jerk._

It was around a week into the act, and Logan was getting pretty confident. Jenna's jealousy was slowly progressing, Mike was raging, and Jasmine and he were getting pretty good at the whole fake-dating thing. The group was still a little annoyed at them for acting gushy when they hung out, but it was at the point where it was hilarious to see _anyone_ get jealous over their fake-intimacy.

So on the week-anniversary, Logan surprised Jasmine with a box of chocolates and a couple of H&M coupons he'd found in Lindy's room. Lindy had reluctantly given them to him, saying, "I'll give you these if you stay outta my face."

Jasmine, of course made a big deal out of them, but this time, she was genuinely smiling. He'd tried to act all humble about how it _no big deal, Jas_, but she wouldn't hear any of it. Instead, she stood as tall as she could and gave Logan a kiss on the cheek. Logan was a little flustered after that, but Jasmine didn't seem to notice, rambling about how she was totally going to eat the chocolates and use the coupons right after school.

"So I should be doing this more often?" Logan asked, just to be sure.

The smile Jasmine gave him made his chest feel light.

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><p><em>Step 4: DON'T ever talk about the girl's ex-man on the first date. It's just messy.<em>

"So… how's it going with Mike?" Logan asked, trying to strike up conversation. They were on a dinner date at a nearby diner, both agreeing that this would be likely place that Jenna would come to with her girlfriends. They sat across from each other at the table.

"With Mike?" Jasmine repeated. She jabbed her salad with her fork forcefully. Her normally sweet expressions were replaced by a pinched scowl. "Well, it's not going well with Mike, if you wanted to know."

Logan swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"WhatI mean is this." Jasmine leaned towards him, hair tumbling over her shoulders. Her hair was so gorgeous and distracting that he almost forgot the problem at hand. "Apparently, Mike decided to move on. He asked out Jessica Wittman. We don't have a chance, Logan."

"I'm sure it's not _that_ bad."

"See for yourself," Jasmine grumbled, "here they come."

Logan turned around to see a very smug Mike and his blonde date, Jessica. He raised his eyebrows at Jasmine and Logan, almost to mock them for coming, then turned to his very tall date and pulled out a chair for her.

Jasmine groaned quietly, and continued to torture her lettuce, her eyebrows knitted together. "This is great. Just great."

"I'm sure he's doing this just to make you jealous right back," Logan consoled her. He wasn't very good that these kinds of things, but Jasmine's frown dropped a little.

"I guess," Jasmine shrugged. She didn't seem so intent on stabbing her salad anymore.

Logan smiled. "I'm sure he's trying to get your attention. Look at his display right now."

Mike was currently enthusiastically making out with his dinner date, and from the looks of it, those slobbery noises were intended for Jasmine's ears. She didn't look very happy at first, but then putting two and two together, a small smile grew on her lips. "Hmm," she mused. "They're getting pretty excited."

"See? I was right."

"That's a first," Jasmine said. She grinned and swept a stand of hair behind her ear. "I think we need to kick our act up a notch, don't you think so?"

"Definitely," Logan said, already thinking up ways to get Mike to Jasmine. "This is going to be fun."

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><p><em>Step 5: When it's time for the big smackeroo, don't force her into it. You don't have to light candles and put on Frank Sinatra; just get into the moment.<em>

Logan didn't normally stroll around town, but in order to show Mike and his new "long-term" girlfriend Jessica that they were totally in love, Jasmine insisted they walked around local Chicago and show Mike and Jenna how much they liked each other. Somehow, Jasmine found out that Jenna also enjoyed shopping in Chicago suburbs, and so they made a point to walk past every boutique.

They didn't run into anyone they knew, but trekking through the city was turning out to be more fun than expected. They had really good pizza at this one parlor, and found a vintage photo booth by the sidewalk. Now Logan had a pocketful of photo booth strips of him and Jasmine to put in his locker.

At around three in the afternoon, they'd stopped for a rest at a sidewalk bench, and Logan bought Jasmine a slushie. They sat contently in the silence, and Logan wondered if they'd ever hung out like this before they starts fake-dating. _Probably not,_ he decided.

Jasmine yawned, breaking the peace. "C'mon Logan, let's go home. They're obviously not here, so let's give it a rest."

"Well, maybe they're going to come later," Logan said. "Just a little longer."

"Logan, I know you love hanging out with me," - at this Logan let out a scoff - "but we can't stay here forever. Plus, I'm tired."

"Alright, fine," Logan caved. "And I'm hanging out with you because of Jenna, not for my own purposes."

Jasmine made an over-exaggerated hurt face. "Ouch, that hurt. But if I didn't know better, I'd say it was because of me as well."

"What if it was?" Logan stepped towards her. Her smirk mirrored his.

"I wouldn't be surprised," she said softly. He laughed.

She stepped closer to him. The spur of the moment drove Logan onward, and he leaned downwards and their lips met. It was thrilling and amazing and nothing like the kisses he'd had before. She pressed herself closer to him, and he held her waist while her hands tangled themselves in his hair and the feeling was like shouldering off a boulder that had been there for years. It felt so natural, kissing Jasmine, and though a little voice in his mind told him that he was crazy to be kissing her, that she was like a sister, everything else in his body felt so right. He hugged her waist impossibly close to him and she groaned into the kiss, tasting like warmth and cherry slushie.

When she pulled away, his lips felt a little swollen. Jasmine was avoiding his gaze. The aftershocks of his actions caught up to him, and his brain seemed to try and control-alt-delete the kiss. The air felt heavy.

After a long silence, Logan mumbled, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight."

"It's alright," she said. She still didn't look at him. "Let's go home, okay?"

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><p><em>Just follow the steps. She should cling on to you right away, which'll be hilarious to see. Good luck; you'll need it.<em>

_ - Jasmine_

Logan frowned at the last step. That memory stung for some reason, and he didn't know why. Maybe it was because he knew his friendship with Jasmine wouldn't be the same. Maybe it was because he liked her, more than a friend, and in a way, she turned him down. Either way, it made his chest tight thinking about it, because the memory was still clear.

But why did he care so much, anyways? They were over. Done. She'd helped him get the girl he'd wanted, and he paved a road for her to get back with her ex.

A small, secretive part of him wished for a better ending. He had so much fun with Jasmine, it was kind of hard to "break up", and not hang out the way they used to. When he took Jenna to the suburbs, the diner, heck, even in the hallways, these flashbacks would decide to remind him that he was with Jenna now. It was a silly wish to get back together with Jasmine, and he knew it. He had to just start unthinking recollections of their time together.

Logan sighed dejectedly, setting the pink lined paper on his desk, and with second thought, taped it on his wall. Despite all of the painful memories, he still need to take Jasmine's advice to heart. It was a little hard to remember the tips without her playfully nagging him about them.

He checked his watch. Thirty more minutes until Jenna came. He set aside all his feelings, and with a heavy heart, labored to clean the rest of his room.


End file.
